Star topology

A star topology is a network architecture in which every peripheral node connects to a single central node — the hub. It is the organizational logic of command economies, traditional corporations, and early telephone networks: all information must pass through the center, making the hub simultaneously the system's greatest asset and its fatal vulnerability. When the hub fails, the entire network collapses into isolated fragments, a property that makes star topologies efficient for control but brittle under stress.

The star topology embodies a particular theory of authority: one node knows, decides, and distributes. It is the architectural expression of hierarchy rendered in graph form. Yet the same structure that enables rapid coordination also creates a single point of failure that no amount of redundancy at the periphery can compensate for.